Gwoemul (괴물) /The Host

(Monster)

Gwoemul is the story of a family in Seoul, South Korea. There's an old man, his 3 children and his grand daughter. The older son is a bit of a loser and his wife left him and their daughter a while ago, the other son is unemployed, and the daughter's an archery medalist.

One day, a monster (the result of Americans dumping stuff in the Han River) emerges from the water and brings destruction and death. The grand daughter is taken by the monster. Everyone thought she was dead until a phone call from her. The rest of the family sets off to rescue her.

I like Gwoemul. It's action packed, the monster looks fab and it's got marvellous Song Kang-ho (he off Thirst and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance) and very very cute Bae DuNa (Sympathy for Mr Vengeance also).

Nice mugshot of the little one...

Throughout the film, we follow the family in their mission to save the grand daughter. Within the horrific situation (people killed by the giant fish) are some comical scenes, a lot of talk about family relationships. You get the discover the characters, all are flawed, and all will try and redeem themselves, especially the older son who seems useless at first but who is willing to put himself in danger to save his daughter, who is kept alive somewhere in the sewers by the monster.

I had to check the definition of a host, because, see, in French, "un hôte" both means a host and a guest. 

The only thing I can think of to justify this translation is that the monster seems to be the host (and the girl the guest?). It is weird that it kills everyone it encounters but that girl, and another little boy. At some point I expected some weird love story as with Ripley/the Alien, but it doesn't seem to develop that way. Maybe the girl being still alive is an accident? It doesn't seem to be fully explained. 

Maybe they couldn't call it Monster because of the Charlize "I speak with an American accent when I'm in South Africa doing the Footie Wold Cup Draw" Theron film.

Oh and you'll be curious to know the French title for this film is... The Host.